pope benedict xvi says he will resign at the end of the month. these are live pictures from the vatican. benedict is the first pontiff to step down in nearly 600 years. kpix 5 reporter cate caugiran is tracking this morning's developments and she is in the newsroom this morning. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the decision means that the catholic church will be without a pope for a period of time until the cardinals can select a new successor. pope benedict spoke in latin to a meeting of vatican cardinals this morning announcing he is resigning his position as the head of the catholic church effective at the end of the month. the 85-year-old leader says he is too weak to continue. right now there are several contenders in the weeks but no front-runner. a professor of sociology at catholic university of america says they saw this coming. >> it is a surprise but on the other hand, in the past pope benedict has indicated if he did not have the strength to exercise the ministry as is needed, that he might step down. so he did leave some indi